AQA · A-Level · Geography
Course version: 7037 · Version from Sept 2018
Environment and population: Strategies to ensure food security.
Food security exists when people have physical and economic access to sufficient, nutritious food.
Checked against the AQA 7037 specification (opens in a new tab) on .
- Point 4 of 4
Study notes
From the checked teaching notes for this specification point.
The idea
Food security exists when people have physical and economic access to sufficient, nutritious food. Strategies to ensure this span multiple scales. Technological strategies include using high-yielding varieties and genetically modified crops to increase yields per hectare, such as drought-resistant maize. Agricultural strategies involve hydroponics, urban farming, and sustainable practices like crop rotation to maintain soil health. Socio-economic strategies encompass reducing post-harvest losses, improving transport infrastructure, implementing fair trade policies, and providing targeted food aid. Effective management requires integrating these approaches to address both production deficits and distribution inequalities on a global scale.
What earns the marks
- Define food security using the FAO pillars: availability, access, utilisation, and stability.
- Explain technological strategies such as genetic modification, high-yielding varieties, and precision agriculture.
- Analyse socio-economic strategies including improving infrastructure, reducing food waste, and implementing fair trade.
- Evaluate the sustainability and potential environmental impacts of different food security strategies.
Common mistakes and how to put them right
Equating food security solely with food production.
Put it right: Food security also fundamentally relies on economic access and distribution networks.
Assuming technological fixes like GM crops are universally accepted.
Put it right: They face significant political, economic, and ecological opposition in various regions.
Overlooking the role of food waste.
Put it right: Reducing post-harvest losses and consumer waste is a critical strategy alongside increasing production.
Exam tips
- Categorise your strategies into technological, agricultural, and socio-economic approaches to structure your essays effectively.
- Use specific case studies, such as the Green Revolution in India or urban agriculture in Cuba, to illustrate the success and limitations of strategies.
- Critically evaluate strategies by considering their economic cost, environmental sustainability, and accessibility for low-income farmers.
Try the lesson
The start of the Environment and population: Strategies to ensure food security. lesson, made from checked teaching notes for this specification point.
Have a go first
Which strategy is primarily designed to improve food security by increasing crop yields on existing agricultural land?
Listen
Food security exists when people have physical and economic access to sufficient, nutritious food. Strategies to ensure this span multiple scales. Technological strategies include using high-yielding varieties and genetically modified crops to increase yields per hectare, such as drought-resistant maize. Agricultural strategies involve hydroponics, urban farming, and sustainable practices like crop rotation to maintain soil health. Socio-economic strategies encompass reducing post-harvest losses, improving transport infrastructure, implementing fair trade policies, and providing targeted food aid. Effective management requires integrating these approaches to address both production deficits and distribution inequalities on a global scale. A strong answer earns marks for these points. Define food security using the FAO pillars: availability, access, utilisation, and stability. Explain technological strategies such as genetic modification, high-yielding varieties, and precision agriculture. Analyse socio-economic strategies including improving infrastructure, reducing food waste, and implementing fair trade. Evaluate the sustainability and potential environmental impacts of different food security strategies. Exam tip: Categorise your strategies into technological, agricultural, and socio-economic approaches to structure your essays effectively.
See it
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